Report

Young People and Gambling 2024: Official statistics

Gambling Commission report produced by Ipsos on young people and their gambling behaviour, attitudes and awareness in 2024.

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Published
7 November 2024

Last updated
7 November 2024 - Changes

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Contents

• Young People and Gambling 2024: Official statistics

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• Executive summary
• • Introduction
  • Headline statistics
  • Presentation and interpretation of data
  • Acknowledgements
• Young people’s active involvement in gambling
• • Summary
  • Definitions
  • Young people's active involvement in gambling
  • The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition – Multiple Response Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J) problem gambling screen
• The impacts of gambling on young people
• • Summary
  • The impact of gambling on relationships
  • Young people’s feelings when gambling
  • The impact of gambling on young people’s engagement with school and homework
  • The impact of gambling on young people’s sleep
  • The impact of gambling on spending
  • Experience of ever seeing a family member gambling
  • The impact of family members’ gambling on young people
• Wider experience of gambling
• • Summary
  • Wider experience and active involvement in gambling
  • Experience of different gambling activities
  • Who young people were with when they experienced gambling activities
  • Being stopped from gambling for being too young
  • Setting gambling in the context of other risk taking behaviours
• Games and gaming machines
• • Summary
  • Young people spending their own money on games and gaming machines
  • Overall experience of playing games and gaming machines
  • Who young people were with when they played gaming machines
  • Types of gaming machine played
  • Playing arcade machines in adults-only areas
• Online gambling
• • Summary
  • Young people’s active involvement in online gambling
  • Overall experience of online gambling
  • Online gambling using parents’ or guardians’ accounts
  • Paying for and betting with in-game items in video games
  • Methods of paying for in-game items and to open loot boxes
• Lotteries and lottery style games
• • Summary
  • Active involvement with lotteries and lottery style games
  • Wider experience of lotteries and lottery style games
  • Buying a National Lottery draw ticket or scratchcard
  • Who young people were with when playing lotteries and lottery style games
• Attitudes towards gambling and reasons for gambling
• • Summary
  • Reasons why young people gamble
  • Reasons why young people do not gamble
  • Feeling informed about gambling
• Recall of gambling adverts and promotion
• • Summary
  • Recall of gambling advertising or promotions
  • Frequency of seeing or hearing gambling adverts or promotions
  • Perceived impact of gambling adverts on unplanned spending
  • Engagement with gambling related content on social media and streaming platforms
• Appendices
• • Applying the DSM-IV-MR-J youth adapted problem gambling screen
  • Research design
  • Sample profile
• List of gambling activities and definitions
• • List of gambling activities
  • Definitions

Frequency of seeing or hearing gambling adverts or promotions

When young people who recalled having seen or heard a gambling-related advert or promotion were asked how often they had seen or heard such adverts, between a third and a half noted seeing or hearing them at least once a week through the different channels or sources cited. Young people were most likely to cite social media, apps and TV as channels through which they had seen or heard these adverts at least weekly (by 46 percent, 45 percent and 44 percent of those young people who had cited these as a source of the adverts they recalled).

Figure 8.2: Frequency of seeing or hearing gambling adverts or promotions (proportion who had seen or heard at least once a week)

Figure 8.2 information

GC_ADFREQ. And how often, do you see or hear adverts or promotion about gambling in the following places?
Base: All participants answering'On social media' 2024 (1,843). 'On an app' 2024 (1,989). 'On TV' 2024 (2,055). 'On the radio' 2024 (1,218). 'On live streaming or video sharing platforms' 2024 (1,323). 'At a sports event' 2024 (1,513). 'On another website' 2024 (1,206). 'On a podcast' 2024 (634). 'On posters or billboards' 2024 (1,429). 'In newspapers or magazines' 2024 (1,295). 'Somewhere else' 2024 (775).
Note: This is a multiple response question, so the responses shown will not add up to 100 percent.

Frequency of seeing or hearing gambling adverts or promotions (proportion who had seen or heard at least once a week)

Frequency of seeing or hearing gambling promotions or adverts at least once a week	2024 (percentage) (multiple response question, answers do not sum to 100 percent)
On social media (including Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok)	46%
On an app	45%
On TV	44%
On live streaming or video sharing platforms (including Twitch and YouTube)	43%
On the radio	41%
At a sports event (for example at football stadiums or on players' shirts or around the pitch)	40%
On another website	39%
On a podcast	38%
On posters or billboards	33%
In newspapers or magazines	32%
Somewhere else	44%

There were variations by gender, with boys more likely than girls to recall having seen or heard gambling adverts or promotions at least once a week via all of the different channels listed.

The proportions of young people who recall having seen adverts or promotion of gambling-related adverts at least weekly are consistent across the 2022, 2023 and 2024 surveys.

Previous section
Recall of gambling advertising or promotions Next section
Perceived impact of gambling adverts on unplanned spending

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Last updated: 7 November 2024

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